Funny things my family said on a trip down to Salt Lake night before last:

(we were talking about psychics)
Younger sister: I don't think people would listen to psychics if they told people that their dead relatives told them that they were going to be meeting them soon.

...have taken from their own lands
the echo of their story...

Well, we're picking up my brother tomorrow - some of you down in Salt Lake and environs might have ran into him - he's been going by Elder Whalen the past few years.

In other news, my site has everything I can think of at the moment - including all my Perl code, a RSS reader, a guestbook, and a comment page.

Gotta get up early tomorrow.

Well, I found the song the Primary sang the Sunday before last (MP3 link).

My sister's back from California - and she has pictures!

There'll be a few more updates before April for Perl::Dist::WiX (the new Strawberry Perl builder) - I'll testing one to put up.

I'll be staying at Grandma's for the next week - she has to go someplace and needs somebody to feed the cats and stuff.

Tatiana is back on? Hard to believe. They must want some craziness on Idol. My family all hates her.

We've barely dug ourselves out - going to dig Grandma out soon.

Got a pair of jeans, a shirt, a movie (Iron Man) and $25 for Christmas. (We just finished opening the presents.)

We're going over to my aunt's for lunch in order to finish the food everybody brought over yesterday for the party (There were 18 people there...)

( Video )

I had a nice Monday - went to a party for one of my cousins. Didn't go to any of the other christmas parties or the singles dance last night - maybe next month I'll get to the singles dance.

Did take pictures of how cramped my room is right now - next entry, OK?

Also been chatting with an interesting person - maybe in a month or two...

Yesterday it seriously snowed for the first time, so I had to shovel us and my grandparents out.

Tonight I have a birthday party - except that I had double-scheduled something on top of it before I knew my family was going, so I might not go.

The movie of Twilight isn't as good as I thought it would be, but it's still decent. I think you'd have to be a fan in order to really like it. (I'm not, but I have read all the books and like them)

Also saw Vexille - I liked that one, and tried to watch Definitely, Maybe (which was cuter in the trailers than in the actual movie.)

This song reminds me of my last two girlfriends (Deidre and Erica) in Missouri - I have to admit I had a "learning experience" to call it the least with those two...

( Lyrics and Video - Amy Diamond - Thank You )

Next few entries (what I've been listening to lately):
Gisela - Casanova (Andorra's entry)
Dima Bilan - Believe (Russia's entry, and the winner)
Amy Diamond - Rocking Around The Christmas Tree, Graduation Song
Billie Piper - Walk of Life
Agnes Carlsson and Måns Zelmerlöw - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Yes, my music seems to run in spurts, and right now, I'm on a Europop/Eurodance spurt.

We don’t void people’s right to tilt at windmills simply because we don’t fancy their lance...

I saw this a few days ago in a blog somewhere (in the Bloggernacle, actually) and I like the sentiment - I know mine would have been taken a few times by now.

We should finally be moving into our place in a little more than a week... Dad and the landlord have become friends already. It's only 5 blocks away...

Yes, I'm watching Romeo x Juliet at the moment. Actually pretty good.

(link to lyrics for song I used - different English translation, however.  Will need Japanese fonts.)

Well, had a fun day today. Went to some garage sales this morning and made out like bandits... we got the BBC recording of The Lord of the Rings for $20, got a bunk bed for $1 because they were shutting down, and got myself a few books and a CD. Got to go to Burger King for lunch and rest after that.

Well, I'm back for a moment.

At any rate, my dad's finally found a job, I've finally got a paid year for LJ, and life is going well.  I've got my meds,  been to the doctor (I'm supposed to go next Thursday), we're supposed to be hearing from my brother soon, all that stuff.

The trip to Portland last month was fun.  Got to do my usual things. 

Here's a fun video... Yes, it's CI... and when I first saw this one, I showed this to Mom, and said that stage presence was the one area that David A could improve on - and he could use this young lady for an example!

By the way, I can now be text-messaged from LiveJournal...

I'm yawning at the moment.  I'll try to write more later.

Well, how has my last 18 days or so been? Well, Dad had an interview for a job 3 Thursdays ago - Mom went with him.  Unfortunately, they picked somebody else.

Saturday before last (the 19th), me, my Mom, my sister, and one of my younger cousins went to Nim's Island. Was a VERY good movie.  Worth paying full price at the movie theater for.  Went to a fun dance after that!

We ended up buying 14 movies Wednesday before last - with a $5/movie deal, why not?  We finally got copies of The Seeker, Unaccompanied Minors, Beauty and the Beast, The Home Teachers, and a bunch of others.

Went to a good fireside Sunday the 20th - should add the CD she makes to my wishlist if I can find it.

We moved our stuff from Okinawa into a storage unit for now... (did that a few week ago.)  LONG job...  Now we're waiting for the stuff we stored when we moved TO Okinawa that the Air Force has been storing to be shipped to us... It's been requested.  We're going to need to borrow a semi to move wherever we go - and then have a big-time garage sale!

I ended up getting enough Pepsi points from my family to pick out a song to download a few weeks ago - the song I'm listening to is it.

We're worried about my sister - she's been feeling nauseous for the past few weeks... I have my suspicions, but we'll have to take her to the doctor tomorrow and have her go through the tests to find out for sure - and she ISN'T going to like them!.

Speaking of doctors, I've made an appointment - it's in two weeks from today.  Had to go and get some blood work done last week so I can get my medications prescribed - I'm picking up the second one today.

AI news the last few weeks, Jason needed to go, Brooke didn't, at least not the week she did.  (Her version of "I Am... I Said" was VERY good.)  I've put her first album on the wishlist!)  My guess for next week?  Sayesha, of course.  Jason was the only one I could see surprising David Cook this week.  (Of course, the other David is unstoppable!)

Other than that, same old, same old.  We may be here for the summer while Dad takes a temporary job in Missouri.  We'll have to see.

Well, how has my last week and a half been? Well, Dad had an interview for a job last Thursday - Mom went with him.

Saturday before last, me, my Mom, my sister, and one of my younger cousins went to Nim's Island. Was a VERY good movie. Worth paying full price at the movie theater for. Went to a fun dance after that!

We ended up buying 14 movies Wednesday - with a $5/movie deal, why not? We finally got copies of The Seeker, Unaccompanied Minors, Beauty and the Beast, The Home Teachers, and a bunch of others.

Went to a good fireside last Sunday - should add the CD she makes to my wishlist if I can find it.

We moved our stuff from Okinawa into a storage unit for now... (did that a week ago.) LONG job... Now we're going to request the stuff we stored when we moved TO Okinawa that the Air Force has been storing for us... We're going to need to borrow a semi to move wherever we go - and then have a big-time garage sale!

Other than that, same old, same old. Going to another movie today... should be interesting.

As for my Sunday (I know, it's Wednesday already...) the combined Relief Society and Priesthood lesson was taken from the broadcast on Building a Righteous Posterity this last February. It was quite the interesting lesson. Someday...

Dad is fishing for job opportunities, and some of them are biting back... My sister would finish school here, but we'd be moving either after that or sooner. I'm hoping he gets the job that's currently bitng back! We'd be within 12 hours driving of most of the family, the place has a good library (I read a lot) and bus system (I don't drive, either)... it'd be perfect for me!

Dad also had to have hernia surgery yesterday... he's doing well.

Got this video e-mailed to me last Saturday - I remember hearing about it 10 years ago - haven't checked on the Carlson Septuplets site in a while. Maybe I should.

Well, I've had a new cell phone for a few days now...

How?

Mom asked me to buy her a prepaid one for when she was off visiting family the week before last. This last Friday, Dad broke down and got phones on contract for himself, Mom, and my sister... which makes the prepaid phone mine.

So people can call and send text messages to me, without worrying that they'll get someone else in the family. I'll put it in my LJ profile, if I can.

We're looking for a place within the school area we're in now (my sister starts school today, in fact) for the next year and a third, at least. (i.e. until she graduates)

Oh! Thanks again, marliah! Everybody else should see this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBCKMTo210k

[Video Link]

Well, here's a few things going on...

Yesterday I helped my Mom out with a flea market (we're trying to get some of our stuff sold so we don't have to move it...)

I had a computer job Saturday afternoon, and two more on Monday - I'll have some spending money for the trip.  Just gotta get the other things done that need done, too.  I only have 11 full days left!

We have the flights set up for me and my brother:

CI  121 OKA-TPE 11:55am - 12:30pm [ 1 hour  35 minutes,  -1 hour  TZ change] (4 hours 10 minutes at TPE)
CI    6 TPE-LAX  4:40pm - 12:05pm [11 hours 25 minutes, -16 hours TZ change] (5 hours 10 minutes at LAX)
DL 1046 LAX-SLC  5:15pm -  8:06pm [ 1 hour  51 minutes,  +1 hour  TZ change]

We're having to get one of our cats set up to go now, because it's easiest to take the cat under the seat as a carry-on, instead of checking the dog in (We can't guarantee that we'll be able to check the dog's kennel in at LAX)

When I've been out walking, I've stopped a few places - just for curiosity's sake, here are the receipts!

( 2 pictures... )

And here's my Gaijin card. I just got it last week.

( Picture - 464x720 )

And here's a few fun quotes I've found...

I don't recall where I found this one.  varrin, maybe?

The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
  —Thomas Jefferson

Thank keene_edi for this quote... It SO applies to me!

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking, if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
  —Voltaire

Hopefully everyone is having (or had) a merry Christmas!

Well, it's already the 26th here, and I stopped off at Japanese Immigration, since I hadn't heard from them since late August, when I had put in my extension application (I DO need to be legal when I leave) - they HAD approved it, so I'm legal to stay in Japan until July (even though I won't be).  Went to the BX and got a few other things.  Have some visitors coming tonight.

Entry #2...

Thursday, 6 December, 10:40am

Haven't heard from the surgeon yet... am a little tired.  One of my neighbors left the radio on all night - good thing I had earplugs, but even then, I didn't have the easiest time getting back to sleep.

Current weight is 66.05 kg. - so I'm losing about 3-4 pounds a week.  That's fine while I'm in here.

I should get the lipid IV any time now, too...  Found Notepad++ on the thumb drive - I like it better than regular Notepad.  (I had installed it from PortableApps and hadn't used it much.)  Now if only I had the regular installer so I can put it on the laptop permanently. (No internet access, of course!)

I'm basically stuck in the room until I DO hear from the surgeon, because I want to get this SCHEDULED!  Maybe he'll come around during rounds (which are usually around 11-11:30am for the doctors I see.)

12:35pm - The surgery team just left (GI team came by right at 12) and talked to me.  They're talking next week, which would be great, but they haven't decided yet whether to do it!  Lipid IV went in at 11:30.  Difficult, as usual.  I have my left arm hanging down in order to get it in.  I can do THAT for 2 hours.

Friday, 7 December, 2:30pm

Well, just got an ECG done and a pulmonary function test about a half hour ago - it looks like this surgery is going to happen!  Current weight is 65.8 kg.  Dr. Shinoura, Mom and I will be talking tonight, and hopefully they'll be deciding on a date for the surgery.  I keep hearing next week ("the week of the 10th", I'm calling it, figuring on sometime between the 10th and the 14th.) Last night they did a nose swab, this morning was a urine test - all the little things that have to be done before a surgery are happening.  I'm having little odd aches and pains in my abdomen DESPITE being on TPN and 40mg prednisone, and that is helping plead my case for sooner rather than later.

Saturday, 8 December, 1:30pm

Last night was GREAT news!  They've scheduled the surgery for the 12th, so I'll be "no assistance required" as far as flying out is concerned if current schedule (early February for flying out) is kept.  I'll move to the surgery wing on Monday.  I've got almost everybody contacted that needs to be.

Monday, 10 December, 3:15pm

Well, I'm now in the surgical wing.  Moved all my stuff over like 30 minutes ago.

Current medical status: They decreased me to 30mg prednisone on Sunday morning (although that'll go back up) and started giving me a higher-calorie TPN bag this morning (instead of getting 820 calories every 10-13 hours, I get 1160 calories every 11-14 hours, to end up with a 2400-2600 calorie a day "diet", as opposed to 1800-2000 before) - maybe they want to build me up before the surgery, maybe I'm losing weight a little too fast, maybe both.  My current weight is 65.35 kg., so I've lost one pound since Friday, and over 7½ pounds in 2 weeks.

Mom and I asked how they handle the post-surgery pain (she knows this is painful), and they give me a spinal block before the surgery and will leave it in for 5 days to a week unless it's threatening to get infected.  If that happens, then morphine sulphate in the peripheral (arm) IV will be used instead.

Lipid IV's the past few days have been fun, to say the least!  They had to switch the IV port locations both yesterday and today (the spots that they used yesterday and the day before aren't the safest ones for somebody who's up and about...). Sunday, they had lots of trouble finding a spot that worked.  They used 5 different needles, and 3 different nurses tried.  "Call me pin-cushion-san" I almost said to the nurses.  Today, it started slow, then went so fast once it DID get going (it took an hour instead of the usual 2-3) my arm was sore for about an hour and a half afterwards.  I needed it to go fast, I wanted to get showered and shaved and all that before the wing transfer, and before my family decided to come up and visit.  (They came up at about 12:30)

They had me carrying my normal TPN bag during the transfer between wings (since I could walk, the nurse pushed a cart with my records and my stuff on it while I held my bag in my left hand) and when we got to the wing... uh-oh.  Backflow in the central line.  (Meaning there's blood trying to go INTO the bag.)  Not a BIG no-no to have happen, but a no-no, just the same, as far as I know.  I got moved to a side room and sat down for 5 minutes while they turned the flow up and made sure there were no problems.

Mom and I are having fun playing Canasta - and we've only started since I started this hospital stay, and we're getting pretty good at it.  Sometimes we play 2 player, sometimes one of our friends comes up with Mom and we play 3-player.  Haven't brought up enough people to play 4-player yet.

The reason I didn't type anything for Sunday is because my Mom brought up one of my Christmas presents Friday night - my brother figured I could use some more stuff to stave off the boredom... so he got me the "Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles" set, which includes all 4 Civilization games [but not "Call to Power"] and all the expansions for the first 3 games, as well as a DVD and a card game.  Well, even a small Civ3 game can last for hours, and I had set it for medium size so I could get one game in before I went under the knife!

This should be a ¥1,000,000 ($10,000) hospital bill this time for sure [The time I went in for a month last year was in the ¥900,000 range], with a surgery being added, and I wouldn't be surprised at half again or double that.

Mom's been bringing the newspapers every couple of days, and Mizzou got a decent bowl this year, if not one of the "BCS 5"... Such is life.

Tuesday, 11 December, 3:10pm

Well, everything is happening today. This time they put a 500 calorie lipid bag on instead of a 220 calorie one. Weight is basically the same (actually went up .05 kg., but that's day-to-day variation can do that!) I'm taking a quick course of Flagyl and Kanamycin, and I drank a bottle of laxative this morning. Between the antibiotics and the laxative, I had predictable results I don't think I need to mention here!

Called my friend back in the states - talked to him and his daughter. They'll be praying for me, they say. (Things just HAVE to go right when you have a 6-year-old [I think she's 6] specifically saying she'll pray for you! ☺ )

They've had 3 people coming in doing different parts of explaining the proceedure (since I can't read Japanese, either in romanji or kanji, it's verbal explanations.) - it helps that I've read up on it before.

Wednesday, 12 December, 9:50am

Well, all preparations have been done, and now I'm anxiously waiting for the surgery and trying to relax. Of course, it's not so easy as that!

Last night I signed all the consent forms with all the worst-case scenarios - and some of them have happened to Mom (her 2004 surgery had a few problems!) I had another blessing last night, and part of the promises are that those worst-case scenarios won't happen, that I'll be healing quickly, and that the surgery will not be a reason to worry. So that's NOT what I'm worrying about. I'm anxious to get the surgery over with so I can deal with the other things that I DO need to worry about - the move, for one. I'll be "light duty" for this move (I really can't carry much more than a normal-size scripture set as I'm typing this in [Saturday, December 15th] without pain, for instance.) But at least I'll hopefully be out of the hospital and not flaring for it! (I had a light flare during the move off-base that didn't put me in hospital, but was darned inconvienent.)

Happy birthday, lfinder! I hope the current issues that naraht1 mentioned are solved to your family's benefit! (Trying to be vague, OK?)

On another note, I mentioned that my grandfather died almost a week ago. My father was the only one here who got to go to the funeral, because they set it too soon for everybody else to get there. (We had two choices. The Red Cross would pay for one "commercial-plane" ticket to Utah, or we'd get first priority on the Space-A flight that leaves Saturday at 1pm to Seattle and then have to pay for our own tickets to get to Utah... and even then, I'd have to go commercial all the way, or stay home, because I don't have a military ID.  The problem is, the rest of the family set the funeral for Saturday at noon, so the second option would have gotten us there too late by about 6 hours!)  So Dad left Friday morning and is currently in Utah, and will be for another week.  It's a little bit stressful here, but it's not bad.  The first few days preparing for Dad to go felt like we were ruinning around headless, especially Friday morning.

Saturday, I went to go to the Family History library here (I volunteer there) - found out that their Internet connection is down, so they're leaving the library closed, because it's be useless to open - and the person who has to open the library for me forgot to tell me, because she didn't expect that I'd be well enough to show up!  (Not her fault, really. She was thinking based on "US hospital" experiences... The Japanese don't tend to release you from the hospital until you've been well for a few days and champing at the bit.  US hospitals tend to kick you out fast, and you're still a little bit "off" and need a few days rest at home when you leave.  I don't know which I like least!)

Sunday was fun.  I ended up getting to Sacrament meeting late because my ride forgot to pick me up! I volunteered in the nursery for the third hour (We need volunteers desperately there... the nursery had 18 kids that day out of a membership of 236 in our branch, because the branch's coverage area is most of the junior officers and senior enlisted family housing on Kadena Air Base, so we are strongly Primary-age children heavy. My mom got released as the Primary secretary week before last (while I was in the hospital) - I think we have about 100 Primary-age kids (3-11) with it being about 60 "Junior Primary" (3-6) to 40 "Senior Primary" (7-11) and 15-20 Young Men and Woung Women (12-18) in that 236. 51 families, by the way. It's a "different" branch!)  My younger sister got called as the Young Women's class president at the same time (they have a combined class for the 6 Young Women) - she just called the branch president with her requested counselors and secretary tonight.

Monday I got some books at the library on Foster, and today, I went to Kadena and did some book-trading before the doctor's appointment.  I'll see the doctor again in two weeks.  Blood work numbers are doing good to great. He wants me to go down to 30mg prednisone tomorrow and 20mg in one week - we'll see how that goes.  I could use a decrease in appetite (I'm ravenously hungry half the time right now...) and in the sweats that seem to be happening... (I should ask about them! I didn't think about it.)

OK. I'm now out of the hospital (been out for 2 and a half hours now) - but my grandfather finally passed away this morning (we were expecting it to happen soon - I had been told he was in the hospital while I was packing for Sasebo.) More later.

Some quizzes from when I was in the hospital:



( Read more... )

The funny thing about gas stoves/ranges - they tend to yell at you and smell a lot when you leave them on... somebody (not me) who shall remain nameless left the range that was used to make pancakes this morning just a little ways on (didn't turn it off completely) and a few minutes ago, we start hearing this hideous BEEPBEEPBEEP at about 90 decibels - I was at the computer, but I could hear it in my bedroom upstairs and at the other end of the house! We woke up the person who did do it (they wanted to take a nap - but if they're going to subject me to that, I'll wake them up!) and got it turned off.

I can't believe this “school” still exists, myself.

I've had a pretty slow last few weeks.

Had a flare last Friday that knocked me back for a few days - but I'm all right now.

Friday and Monday I had to run around collecting stuff for my visa renewal - yes, the same day I was tossing my cookies that morning (from about 4 to 9am), I had to head out at 3pm! I was still feeling miserable, but it had to get done. I've got the application done and I should be good for another year.

Wednesday and today have been "run-around" days... we ended up being given a printer for free - we just had to find cartridges for it, and now we've done so, plus sending letters out, getting school supplies shopping done, swapping for new books, etc...

Thanks to pennya, princess_design, and lasunshine for the birthday wishes! (If I didn't say anything, it's because I didn't notice yet.)

Yesterday was quiet, but good. Mom made homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner last night - may not have been lasagna (which is my usual birthday meal), but still is great.

Ended up getting a nice robe (mine was getting ratty) and slippers and some DVD's (Bridge to Terabithia and seasons of NCIS and Babylon 5). I'm getting a poster and some underclothes, too - but I'm going to have to order those...

Stomach growling today - but homemade mac and cheese does that to me...

There's what you had planned... and then there's what happens next. (A quote from a series of books... I like the quote.)

Well, my brother flies out tomorrow morning... time to run around headless and get things ready and packed.

Mom's talk got delayed until next week.

Visit the doctor Wednesday.

Gotta run again.

The typhoon of my life has blown over, it seems...

Well, the move is now scheduled. Mom and I went to the housing office today.  We're getting a new issue of furniture on the 26th, and we actually move on the 27th (TMO will pack us up the morning of the 27th and truck it down the 10 km or so once we're packed, and we'll have to START unpacking that afternoon/evening (I think we're going to be too whipped to do much that night - I GUARANTEE I will be).

[I think that was why I was so "off" this morning.. just the not knowing.]

Finished with that help file - once I finish writing this entry, I'll quickly test things out with the program, and then I'm DONE unless he finds a bug.

Got some new books, too... (did some trading in at the library and the USO.)




(As I'm reading this, it says people think I'm 33 - that's close enough to accurate. I may have had a bad day when that was taken, because people usually comment I look younger, and I tend to get "first-named" in church, or at best, "Brother Curtis", rather than the "Brother <last-name>" that adults usually refer to one another as.)

[Video Link]

The last two to three days have been hectic... life has decided to lay in a typhoon!  I haven't even had TIME to have bad health... and I'm thankful I really haven't.

Well, Tuesday afternoon we officially paid what they call the "agency fee".  So we're committed to moving to the house in Kitanagasuku Village now. Now sometime within the next two to three weeks we'll be moving.

So many people are leaving the family branch this summer that Mom had to go to two sayonara lunches for a group of six people, plus a dinner Tuesday night for someone else.

My sister has been getting out of school at 10:30 this week (all they're doing is final exams) - one more day of that and she's done, thank goodness!

Wednesday afternoon was the pre-inspection to let the housing office on base see what's needed to do to the place - I think we're just going to pay out the money to have them clean it, it'd be too much of a project! But EVERYBODY had to clean their rooms for the inspection - and we honestly needed to.  I feel better knowing that the room is at least (temporarily) clean and I have room to move around in!

Had to burn a bunch of CD's for my Dad the day before yesterday (Tuesday) - and I found out the new printer is too smart to print out on the CD label paper, and the BX was out of CD paper!  Had to borrow his cheapie "work printer" that he brings to work to print it!

The timing with everything had just been so bad yesterday (Wednesday) that I even had to cancel my doctor's appointment!  It's been rescheduled for next Monday.  I did say I had reasonably good health - I told him the only thing that went on was a bad gas attack on Sunday and what I call "antibiotic diarrhea" since Saturday or so.  For me, that's reasonably good, especially compared to the week before!

One good thing - I finally am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the programming project for Dad.  I'm taking screenshots and writing the help file now.

BTW, happy birthday, princess_design!

( Here's a few quotes... )

Well, Jericho is starting here - apparently it's got enough audience for AFN to pick it up! Just saw an advertisement for the season premiere.

Oh, and I have good news.  Dad looked at the house - we're getting it.  Now we just have to worry about the actual move!  I haven't seen it yet, but when I do, I'll get pictures!

Mom's babysitting this morning, (we have a friend moving to Korea, and we have 3 of her younger kids here) so it's too noisy to do programming right now. I set up a Google Map for the friends list with locations from this journal (I may do a public one in a little while) and I'm typing entries.

I've got to clean up my room a little bit before Wednesday - our housing pre-inspection is that day, as well as a doctor's appointment for me.  That and I've got to get that programming done when things aren't so noisy!

That's it for now.

(Thank you goes out to strryeyedgrrl for giving me the idea of even checking out this song! This is one of those covers that are better than the original - and I don't particularly care for most of her stuff! (It's just not what I like in music, OK? I DID take a look.) Load up on guns and bring your friends...)

Dad asked me to add one major thing to the program, and that looks like it's almost done! I'll probably be done with it by the end of this week! Finally!

If I didn't mention this before, I am now. One of the things that's happening soon that's stressing me out is that we're hitting what we call the "5-year limit" - as civilians working for the Navy, my family can only live in on-base family housing for 5 years, and then we have to live off-base for 2 years before we can move back on base. (Stinks, I know. One of those government things, I suppose.)

For a while there, they were looking at houses like 15-20 minutes north of Kadena Air Base (Onna Village, if that helps), so it was looking like I was going to have to attend the family branch with them, because I wouldn't have reasonable transportation to the singles branch. But now, it's looking like the house they're getting at is between Kadena and Camp Foster (where the singles branch meets), so that won't be a problem! (Mom likes it enough, she's having Dad come and see it tomorrow. It has its pluses and minuses, but then, any house does. In this case, the minus is small bedrooms, but any off-base house here has that, it looks like! I'm not gonna gripe about it too badly! The last one Mom liked had a microscopic [as in, it can wash one or two people's laundry for one day at a time] washer and dryer, and they expected enough people to live in it to fill 4 bedrooms???)

I should ask whose "Okinawa: Typhoon Capital of the World" shirt I saw this morning in the wash! I really like it. Should take a picture. It'd help with the last paragraph.

It hasn't helped my health to be stressed out - I was sick Monday - but it should all be over within a month.

Thanks to aeolianafay for this quote - can anyone tell me which play this is from? It's been a long time since I seriously read Shakespeare, if I ever REALLY did. Thanks, doragon_baburu!

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. —William Shakespeare, Hamlet

( Another quiz from mamaslyth... )

First off, happy birthday, hopeness!

Well, I just finished my program for my Dad - and I've already got one more thing to add to it (that and give it a help file, but he doesn't need those things tomorrow... I can take a break for a few days.) It has kept me busy. Health is still doing quite well! Apparently, the doctor and I laid down the hammer after the scare about a month ago, and things are working! Other than that, nothing much going on. Gotta prepare for moving off-base sometime this next month and for my oldest brother leaving for Air Force basic training... That and e-mail my youngest brother back.

At any rate, my Mom rented a movie last weekend and I saw three trailers for movies I'd be interested in — #1, #2, #3

I STILL need to see Mozart and the Whale - I'll put that in the DVD player on the computer once I'm done here.

Spaghetti tonight - mmmm.....

I DID watch AI live on Thursday morning. I was expecting Jordan to win. Blake's the better entertainer, but I do have to admit Jordan is learning fast in that department, and she's the better singer, so I can understand why she won.

A few quotes I've found:

Think of how stupid the average person is. Now realize that half the world is stupider than that.
    — George Carlin

In the same way, I don't think Asperger's/Autism necessarily causes depression, it's the way society in general tries to force Autism Spectrum people into little boxes that aren't designed for us spectrumites, and then telling us there's something wrong with us when we don't conform. "What's wrong with you? Why do you keep doing [whatever]? Why don't you pay attention?" and so forth.
    — nik_xliii, here.

The philosophy that the government knows best how to raise children is really becoming a worldwide phenomenon.
    — Michael Farris.

And a few quizzes from mamaslyth. I watch reality shows AND do quizzes. I just don't do too much of either.

( My quiz fix... )

Well, got a lot to say, so I'd better start saying it.

First off, last week, I saw this quote on a newspaper clipping:

Tobin asked professors at all kinds of colleges -- public and private, secular and religious, two-year and four-year -- to rate their feelings toward various religious groups, from very warm or favorable to very cool or unfavorable. He said he designed the question primarily to gauge anti-Semitism but found that professors expressed positive feelings toward Jews, Buddhists, Roman Catholics and most other religious groups.

The only groups that elicited highly negative responses were evangelical Christians and Mormons.

Not that I'm too surprised - the two groups of people that speak out the boldest about traditional families are punished for it... that seems to be the way this country is going, unfortunately.

In other news, I've been



Apparently, I'm in good company!

( My credentials... )

As for what's been happening with me lately, there's been a few interesting things.

Friday night, I went to a party for a friend that was leaving - it was very fun. Got to see an interesting movie - I didn't know my family had it, I'll have to watch it again soon (it's #2 on my list after this one - I've got the book on request at the library, too.)

Saturday was probably the most "blah" day so far.

Sunday I had to teach Elder's Quorum - wasn't all that bad, I had a good subject.

Monday morning I got a phone call from my district president to help someone secure their computer. The person we went to made their job easy - their antivirus program was already up to date and running regularly (some people's computers scare me in that regard...) After that, cookies were made, and a fun time was had by all.

Tuesday I was just tired most of the time - which is why I'm awake now!

Wednesday, I did a lot of programming and a few other things... Also got some car insurance stuff done so we can get the road tax paid Thursday!

Now it's time for me to take my pills and go to bed!

( A haiku... )

I know I haven't really written an entry in the past few weeks... I'm doing fine now.

Last Wednesday I was pretty close to going in the hospital - had a 6 hour vomiting bout. I'm back on prednisone and antibiotics again - and I just got off them a month ago. Must be all the stress my family's going through. We're having to move in 2 months, and my brother is leaving for basic training, and my mother has been sick. She's getting better, however. The other two will just have to wait until July to be solved.

At any rate, AAFES and Sony are doing something special - we're able to see Spider-Man 3 for free tonight! There will also be a raffle and a trivia contest before the movie starts - I've been reading up so I can feed my mom answers!

( In World of Warcraft news... )

( Some funny comics... )

Saying it like it is... thanks! I don't know how far I agree with her second paragraph, but I DO agree with the first!

I had been sick lately, so 2 weeks ago (on the 6th) I went to the doctor and he put me on antibiotics and prednisone. The antibiotics have been making me bloated (painfully so - imagine a guy looking three months pregnant or so) and just plain "off" so I haven't wanted to do much in the way of typing. But they'll be over with in about 3 days.

In my family's news, my "oldest younger" brother has officially signed on with the Air Force! He'll be heading into basic training a week after my sister's birthday in July. My mom is officially missing my "youngest younger" brother (#3) - he's been gone a week now. And brother #2 wants to come back here and take college classes.

When brother #3 left, he had to go via Tokyo and Los Angeles until my grandfather and my uncle could pick him up in Salt Lake City. He got through Tokyo all right, but when he got to LA, he was told his ticket wasn't paid for... computer error on somebody's part? We were lucky. I make up a packet when I travel with phone numbers, ticket information, airport maps/bus information, etcetera - I know how forgetful I am - and this time, I had done one for him. A good thing. He was able to call the church and they got him another ticket paid for the next flight, which was only 1 hour later. Was a little scary.

That, and while we got to the airport early enough, we didn't get to say goodbye to him, because by the time he got to check in, the airport people ran him to his flight because he had 15 minutes to get there. I would have had to run over a group of old people to keep up (I was at the counter with him), and the rest of the family was in even worse positions. That was VERY disappointing.

And speaking of my sister - here's ( a few pictures we got recently (2x700x500) )

( Personality test... )

Happy birthday, strryeyedgrrl! Maybe I should have this icon say "Thinking different" or something like that - it'd fit me better!

Today has just been a pretty good day. Nothing major - just went to church (had to go to meetings first... I thought I was done with those, but somebody is out of town for 6 weeks, and I'm his replacement), went home, slept, and now I'm going to type some stuff up for Dad - he's writing a YA-level story. Looks interesting so far.

Thursday and Friday were hectic, and by Saturday, I was sleeping half the time (I was getting painful on Friday - ate the WRONG thing Thursday night, I think) getting things done. I'll have to call Salt Lake tomorrow night - my brother's plane tickets have not gotten here yet! We're getting worried - we asked for the 9th!

Mom got more stuff sold at the flea market on Saturday - the pile of boxes in my room is not quite so tall now! maybe in a month or two I'll actually have room in my room for MY stuff!

Tuesday I've got a doctor's appointment (I need to call tomorrow and verify that - I've forgotten exactly when it was. I THINK it's this Tuesday at 2) and I'm helping some people out in the morning.

I'm gonna walk with my granddaddy, and he'll match me step for step,
and I'll tell him how I've missed him every moment since he left...
And then I'll hug his neck...

And when I get where I'm going there'll be only happy tears,
I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years.
And I'll leave my heart wide open, I will live and have no fear,
Yeah, when I get where I'm going, don't cry for me down here.

I listened to this song this morning with my Mom, and the verse quoted here (the second one) made me think of my Grandfather J. - who's been gone 20 years - who barely got to see me go to college and never got to see me serve a mission...

Can't believe it's been that long.

It made her cry, too.

From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights...

Last time I tried to type this entry, the router died, and since I was doing X-windows forwarding, I lost what I had typed!

At any rate, I'll start with Saturday - as much of it as I can remember by this time!

That day, I had to be at my church office for about 4 hours. I got warned earlier in the week that another branch (the one my dad's a clerk for) would be sharing the office with me for 8 months while they were moved out of their building (a third branch was having their building renovated, so they moved to the building my dad's branch was meeting in, while my dad's branch moved to the building my office is in... and I got 5 days warning to get my office picked up and the shelf space split. Saturday was the first day I could get anyone to take me down there.)

Sunday I had to get up early because I had an early Church meeting - 7am! Good thing that meeting is only once a month. It isn't easy waking up just before 5! I went home and took a nap before heading back to help set up for the regular services at 2:00 (I get there at 12:30). Fast and testimony meeting was great, as usual! Or should I say even BETTER than usual??? We had sloppy joes afterwards.

Monday... what did we do Monday? Oh, yeah, laundry! Had 4 laundry loads to do (Sunday, Monday [I usually do 1 load a day, a white load every 3-4 days, and a towel load every 4-6 days], and two sleeping bags from my sister's girls camp!) plus a white load to dry and Saturday's to fold. Took from about noon until 9pm... (sometimes the dryer doesn't get the load dry in 80 minutes - it's just too humid here!)

Tuesday was BUSY! Mom and I had lots of errands to run, plus I had church work to do. I think we got out the door at 8am and didn't get back until 3pm. We went for breakfast, stopped and get the forms signed to get my family's official passports renewed, got visitor's passes for the Japanese kids that are visiting Friday, Monday, and Tuesday (Mom gets paid a little to show Japanese kids visiting from mainland Japan what American life is like - a "culture teaching" program, they call it. [Previous link in Japanese only - Babelfish translation here]) went to the thrift store, did my church work (most of it - I forgot one thing. Did do most of the cleaning up of my side of the office that I didn't do Saturday.), had lunch out [to go this time], picked up dry cleaning, paid the car insurance on one of the cars for 3 more months, and went home and did 3 loads of laundry [color, towel, and white]. Other than a little shopping, computer work, and the Japanese kids on Friday, neither Mom or I should have to get out of the house much until Sunday!

Wednesday, I ended up helping a friend copy her stuff to another computer, so I got a free lunch (well, free for me, at least!) at the Italian restauraunt on base... and then dinner was also free - because it was the Officer's Club membership night (a free all-you-can-eat meal - not that I have the stomach capacity, or the intestinal "processing rate" capacity, to dare to eat too much! Well, technically not free, the membership fee is $16 a month - but you try taking 5 people out to "all-you-can" eat on $16 and see how far you get!) Only one load today - we're all caught up on laundry for the rest of the week!

I'm scheduled to fix somebody's computer Saturday at 10 - and I've got to contact someone else (my sister's seminary teacher) to see when I can get together with her and buy a sound card for her computer so I can install it and get paid!

Right now, I just started up mprime - so I'm back on the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search! Mom and my sister just woke up to go to seminary, and then after she gets back, it'll be time for my walk.

[Monday]

Well, got the web page as done as it is going to get for now! It's at https://lap.curtisjewell.boldlygoingnowhere.org/ - I have a lot of my web-programming work there. (Yes, it's a self-signed SSL certificate - your browser is supposed to warn you about that. You're not putting in a credit card number, it's OK.)

Today was an "out and about" day with Mom had a bunch of stuff to do - pick up the mail, buy a book for my brother's college classes. Got to go out for lunch. I'll be home all day tomorrow, and Wednesday I'll have a doctor's appointment at mid-day. Thursday I'll be home again.

Sunday was fun, but tiring, as usual. The usual bunch of stuff to do - plus I had to arrange for a ride for somebody who just got here. (I ended up picking him up.)

Saturday night was a fun halloween activity - I helped out with the trunk or treat.

I've been working on a computer project for my Dad - I think I'm about 3/4 done with the first part of it after about a week.

That's what's been going on lately.

I've got a screen shot I should put up... I'll do that in a day or two.

[Tuesday]

Here's the screen shot. Got 20 pages done on that project. Now I'm at 45 out of 200... (the other pages are about 85% done, I just have to go back and massage the formatting and correct them... OCR software isn't perfect yet!)

( 1280x1024, 285 KB screenshot )

I'd thank my God above to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away...

Well, the obligatory September 11th entry. *grin*

Where was I 5 years ago? Well, when I heard, (which was within 10 minutes of the first plane crashing - it was just before 8am Central Daylight - I know. I ended up skipping that 8am class!) I was at the computer lab in Pershing at the University of Missouri-Columbia when I got an e-mail message telling me to check the CNN website. I ended up staying up there for the next 30 minutes, and then heading back to my room after the news websites got so clogged I couldn't get through to them consistently anymore. (Yeah, I'm geeky. I heard by e-mail!) My other class got cancelled (IIRC, all of the classes after 11am got cancelled) I remember calling my family and watching TV a lot that day. The one thing I worry about is a similar attack happening and another "Operation Yellow Ribbon" happening while I'm crossing the Pacific - but I have the start of an emergency plan in that case - YVR is close enough to my friend in Seattle (who has a passport) and an aunt and uncle in the Seattle suburbs that I call and tell them, as well as calling my family, and we consult from there.

No, I wasn't geeky enough to post in my journal that day. Didn't for almost a week afterwards. Wish I had - just for feelings documentation. Oh, well. But I DO mention it in the next entry I did (Sept. 17th, 5:54pm, friends-only):

First - the attacks on Tuesday - I KNOW I get emotional when something like this happens in movies - real life is much worse. I ended up being stuck to the TV for about 3 days, and it drug me down real bad. By Friday, I just wanted to leave the TV off.

And last night (the Sept. 11th here)?

Well, my sister's school did their Patriot Day presentation. She's in the choir, and they sang some good songs! Started with the Junior ROTC color guard presenting the colors (our flag on the left, the Hinomaru on the right - IIRC, that's correct flag protocol for the US, since I'm on a US base), and then the choirs sung Kimagayo and the Star-Spangled Banner. They also did songs called "We Are America" and "They Dared to Dream", and the show choir did "Flanders Fields" - that song was GREAT. One part sings the poem in double time (I think the tenors) while the basses do an "ooh" part and the ladies sing the poem slowly - creates an ethereal effect that works very well for that song.

There was also a speaker (one of the base chaplains) who ended up serving at Arlington National Cemetery when they dedicated the monument there a year later.

Then we had a moment of silence and a medley of the 5 military service songs. During that medley, the people who served (or are serving) in that service were asked to stand up when their song was played, and a number of members of my (Church) branch stood up for the Marine Hymn (because they're serving currently, of course! Most of my branch is single Marines.) We even had somebody stand up for "Semper Paratus" (the Coast Guard song) - which surprised me a little. Of course, we had the most people stand up for the Air Force song (it is an AF base, after all!)

A side note - I noticed 4 church members in the choir (none from my branch, but 4 of the kids from the family branches, including my sister) out of the 61 kids there - that fits with what I understand the proportion of LDS in the US military to be (8% - we're 4% of the US population.) - and since one of them was the son of my branch president, my branch ended up going there for their Family Home Evening, which was quite nice. Ended up going to have an ice cream with them afterwards, which was fun.

One of my friends from the singles branch was supposed to bring a laptop for me to the concert - they forgot it. Hopefully I'll get it Wednesday!

( Quiz... )

One piece of good news lately - my family got a second computer. Yesterday was dedicated to setting it up. So now I have a computer I can use without the kids wanting to play World of Warcraft on it. (I use the old one, they use the new one.)

I've got a small computer job - I need to call the people today and finish up. Got to install a video card. Got some church stuff to do today, too, and then I'll try and see if I can see World Trade Center at 7 tonight.

Other than that, not much going on. Staying healthy for the most part, which is a relief. (Last Monday and Tuesday I was in pain, but that was it. I am NOT interested in heading back to the hospital so soon.)

Would you believe that my last entry was on my birthday?

This week has just been busy. (and no, I got up two hours ago. I've been getting up in the middle of the night lately... I may go back down for another few hours in just a bit.)

My brother officially ends his mission in the next 5 hours! Dad is up there right now, and they plan to go visiting different places up there for the next few days. They'll be back down here Monday.

Mom has a talk in church on Sunday and so does my younger sister. I've got to help Mom out with hers - they know how shy my youngest sister is, they just asked her to read a scripture and bear her testimony.

Monday I was out with the missionaries - they asked my youngest brother for a ride, and since he didn't know how to get to their place. I ended up getting sunburned (Dad commented "It must have been like "Quick! He's outside! Color him up! He's too pale!") but not too badly.

Speaking of that youngest brother - he's been having a lot of back pain - enough to have to borrow MY pain pills! He has a prescription of 800mg Motrin (the same stuff as in Advil) but it hasn't been working for him the past few days. He gets in to see the doctor in about 4 hours. He says he now appreciates how much pain Mom and I have to go through!

I've been working on a Perl project - it's a unique idea, and might not go anywhere, but even if it doesn't, I'll have the framework code for it to use in other projects!

That and the usual Church stuff... It's looking like I may be doing some of the auditing for the district this time (they wanted me to do it last time, but I went in to the hospital for the March/April hospitalization before they got the paperwork and had to stay in too long.)

I'm doing fine healthwise, other than a case of the runs-like at the moment. [i.e. when I DO need to go, it acts like a case of the runs, but I don't have the NEED to go like I actually have that] I ate some chips and peppery cheese sauce last night, and I need to be careful just HOW much of that I eat.

( Quiz... )

Would you believe that 2 or 3 days ago my family finally got a Nintendo Game Boy game in the mail that was sent 4 months ago??? Whoever originally called the US Postal Service "snail mail" must have had an APO address...

---

You HAVE to see this - it is cute! http://www.porcupinerun.com/ (flash movie)

Well, my youngest brother gradulated last night... and got a $75 gift certificate for Wal-Mart at the party afterwards! Funny thing is, where's the nearest Wal-mart to where we're at???? [Well, we do have the computer!]

Today we're getting drowned - and no typhoons yet to provide an excuse for all this rain - it's just the rainy season here. I got out and got some books swapped finally, along with paying car insurance on one of the cars...

(and now I messed up my journal style. Oh, well. Can't fix it right now.

(I'm disappointed that this song only got 15th at the Eurovision Song Contest, but then, I LIKE country! [This was Germany's entry to the contest])

Mom's making waffles this morning! Yesterday was my usual long Sunday. My brother graduated from seminary and my sister got the award for memorizing all 25 of the seminary mastery scriptures this year. Now I just got to get with him today and get his paperwork done!

(Meme) Your Life: The Soundtrack (from lady_alatar) - and since I like a lot of songs that are really IN soundtracks, I'm putting the applicable movies in for the 13 I know about.
( Soundtrack Meme... )
( Lyrics to No No Never ... )

Since I've been typing in this entry for the past few days...

Friday: Had to run around this morning. Pay Mom's car insurance and phone bills, as well as more medicine. Went out for lunch afterwards. Just a normal day.

Saturday: Wanted to get to the church in order to get some stuff done, so I tried to go with my brother to the seminary graduation social at 4pm. We never got there. The front passenger (left) side tire went flat and we had to pull over just southwest of the Goya intersection (where Gate 2 Street [Highway 20] and Route 330 meet - about a kilometer outside of the base) on the way there. My brother and his friends were able to change the tire, but the spare looked just a little iffy (was looking a little underinflated), so we headed directly home.

Sunday morning: Got up early, got my bath, and now I'm getting this finished... Just found out about the new lds.org beta site... The image on the front page is a little big, but other than that, looks great!

Thursday night: (I've been down [and staying home] the past few days - the house has just bneen too hot!) Darn it, I was hoping Katherine would win!

borntopersevere pointed this one out to me, I think...:

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 90% Conservative, 10% Liberal

Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal